Famous Last Words
by LilyJadeth
Summary: L has something to say to Light from beyond the grave. But that can only happen when Light is dying...


**WARNING SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING!!! :D**

So this was my first fic I did for dn_contest on LJ, prompt: Yellow Box Warehouse. It's based on the last scene in the anime, where you see L while Light dies. Enjoy~

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Crouched on the floor, in the Yellow Box warehouse, watching the dramatic scene play out, was L. Well, L's spirit. And at least spirits didn't hover, or else crouching would've been fairly difficult. He turned to face Near, who only stared up at Light with dark eyes that bore judgmentally into the living boy's soul. L's eyes followed their tug-of-war of what could loosely be called a conversation. His gaze drifted back to Light, who was surrounded by the accusing glares that came from the Task Force and SPK members. Neither could see him. None of them could acknowledge his presence. The only one who really noticed the spirit was the black shinigami he'd never gotten a chance to meet. An associate of the white one? Maybe. They looked quite dissimilar, so it could've been possible that, like humans, all shinigami were... unique?

The black one caught him staring. Those big red eyes glanced at him briefly before he smirked, the chuckle that arose sounding something like sandpaper, and L saw for just a moment the razor sharp teeth behind his black lips. L was almost grateful he hadn't been able to see him while he'd been alive.

Light, meanwhile, feigned innocence, claiming that he'd been framed, and L's attention was immediately seized. _Liar._ His teeth ground angrily, fingernails digging deeply into his calves. What audacity the boy had to keep pretending despite the obvious evidence. _Light Yagami is Kira._ L had had no doubt in his mind about this from the first moment he'd laid eyes on him. Each time he spoke now, he prolonged his inevitable judgment and execution at the hand of Law. At the silence that followed Light's outburst, L stood up slowly and settled into his familiar half-hunch. He wanted more than anything to march right up to the murderer and punch him square in the face like he'd done last time. Instead, he settled for smashing his fist into the metal framing behind him, only to have his clenched hand pass right through it. He could do nothing, _nothing,_ and this realization just made him feel more annoyed and helpless. L told himself to calm down, to steady his "breathing" in time to the creaking revolutions of the rusty fan at the opposite wall.

This was interrupted by a gunshot that came from Matsuda's gun, and Light bent over painfully to clutch the bullet wound in his wrist. Light attempted to continue writing Near's name in the small scrap of the Death Note in his watch when Matsuda shot him again, and several times over until Light fell back into a puddle of water that was slowly turning to blood. While Matsuda's methods were unconventional — and to be expected, coming from him — L mentally revelled in the moment.

As the Task Force restrained Matsuda to prevent him from putting a bullet hole in his head, Light scrambled to his feet and ran for the warehouse door. _He won't get far,_ L thought at the same time Near said it aloud. L looked over his shoulder at the small white-haired boy and smiled. _He really is my successor._

L blinked and suddenly found himself perched high up in a tower that overlooked the city. There was a strong cold wind, but L, being metaphysical and all, was not affected by it as he faced the figure that cast a shadow over him. The black shinigami was staring down at him from above, the orange of the sunset making his eyes glow and illuminating the many folds and twists of his body. In his black-clawed hand he held a bright red apple.

"The name's Ryuk," he said as L only stared and mildly wondered how he'd brought them here. Having been dead for nearly five years, nothing really surprised L anymore. Though it was odd that the shinigami chose now of all times to introduce himself. "Sorry we never got the chance to officially meet."

"Pleasure." L gazed at him with the same blank gaze he'd worn when alive. "But of course, you already know my name."

"It's part of the job," Ryuk groaned in slight annoyance. He seemed bored but complacent as he overlooked the city. L's gaze flitted in the same direction and would have been blinded by the setting sun in other circumstances. He still wasn't all too sure what was going on; he only had a rough grasp of the situation, aside from the fact that most of what he'd experienced as a spirit completely contradicted most of what he'd believed up until now. L hugged his knees and rested his head on his forearms.

L had gotten rid of the habit of biting his thumbnail while thinking simply because there wasn't much to think about. He'd presided over the Kira case, alive _and_ dead, until he'd grown tired of it. There was no point, he had no influence on the physical world. L hadn't really put much thought into what would happen when he died, and had only begun to merely contemplate the matter when he'd taken on the Kira case. Dying rather young was unexpected, but he knew the risk he was taking, revealing his face to the one person he suspected the most. Those percentages he'd constantly spouted to make the Task Force feel reassured: they meant absolutely nothing now.

L always knew he'd meet his death eventually. He just didn't think he'd ever have a casual conversation with him.

And there were so many questions L would have wanted to ask the shinigami if this had been a few years back. Now, L had almost lost interest. It was upsetting, but it also didn't bother him too much — or rather, not as much as he'd thought it would.

Ryuk shifted out of his inert state for a moment, causing the numerous chains he wore to clink loudly. "L."

L looked up at the creature with curious eyes that were peaked in the most interest they'd had in a long time. He sat up slightly. "Hm?"

"L Lawliet. Hideki Ryuga. Eraldo Coil. Deneuve," he recited in his gravelly monotone, pausing to take a bite out of the apple and not looking directly at the spirit. "That's about most of 'em, right?"

"Not all of them," he said hesitantly, not too sure where he was going with this. "But they're main aliases I've used in the past, yes."

The shinigami chuckled, which sounded more like a hacking cough, and grinned down at him darkly.

"Who are you, really?"

L froze, the implications of such a simple sentence dawning on him. _Who am I? Why am I still here? Is this a clichéd case of 'unfinished business'?_ He couldn't remember ever encountering another human spirit, only the shinigami in his presence. _Do I no longer have a purpose?_ L choked back swelling emotions that he hadn't felt since his residence at the orphanage. His mind raced over the hundreds of cases he'd taken up over the years. _My whole life, the entire time — did any of it matter?_

And the answer L found was _yes._ He'd helped save lives. He'd put deadly criminals in jail. If everything existed only to die, then there was absolutely no point to life. And he had helped life keep living the way it was supposed to.

The whole realization wasn't pure poetry, but it made sense in his mind. Getting the chance to think analytically again stirred a bit of his pride. Ryuk laughed again and took out his Death Note, the one that was chained to his side and held shut by an intricate metal clasp. He found his pen, opened the notebook, and began to write slowly. Then the shinigami turned it over in his hands and showed it to the spirit.

In the center of a blank page, **Light Yagami** was written out neatly and in English.

"You'd better get going. Missing such an event would be a shame."

L blinked and found himself once again having traveled instantaneously. Before him now was Light, sprawled out over a set of stairs. They were nearly a mile or so away from the Yellow Box warehouse. Light's chest heaved as he struggled to breathe; his open wounds shone a brilliant red from light that streamed through the window above. L shoved his hands in his pockets and watched him cross the brink of death, a fate Kira had caused too many to suffer by his own judgment. Although there was no clock, L could still hear each second ticking away. Light raised his head and widened his eyes, though L wasn't surprised that he could see him; he was as near to death as one could get without being there.

"Ryuzaki." Light breathed in astonishment the name Ryuk had forgotten to mention.

L smirked coldly at the name he'd been known as amongst the Task Force. He knew he needed to respond accordingly.

"Kira."

The forty-second mark was reached, and Light's chest jerked upward as the instilled heart attack consumed him. In just another few moments, the mass murderer would meet his end. A befitting death. His eyes clouded over, and he probably couldn't hear at all now. Nevertheless, L, who had one more thing to say to him, smiled mockingly.

"The good guys always win."

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**Well there you have it. Ratings and reviews are much appreciated! 3**


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